Well my last iRiver bit the dust (priest dropped it!). Any suggestions for a replacement? I would use mostly to record the wedding officiant. I hear a lot about the Olympus recorders. Anyone have a particular model they like?

Art

This is a good choise here.

Tascam DR-08 Portable Digital Audio Recorder DR-08 B&H Photo (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/673340-REG)


Ben

These are great & they are so cheap that you can afford to have several Zoom H1 Recorder and Accessory Kit H1 B&H Photo Video

i use tascam dr08.
H1 is ok, but tascam wins here in terms of pocket placement

thanks for the feedback everyone. Whatever I get I need to fashion some sort of clip for it that would allow me to fasten to a waistband. I've had experience with officiants (especially women) who wear pocket-less pants and end up just tucking into their waistband which usually doesn't work too well.

Art

For waistbands I have a few old fashioned mobile phone cases with belt clips - cheap and work a treat :)

Ah - awesome idea! Thanks Peter

I may have misread some threads but would the H1 be good enough as a stand alone (let's say placing it on the podium during speeches? would it be like a shotgun at close range without an external microphone?)

The Zoom H1 is great for standalone use with the onboard microphones. When placing it on a podium be careful about placement & preferably use some sort of stand (there is a neat little tripod in the H1 accessory pack) to isolate it so that there is less extraneous noise from e.g. tapping on the podium. It's also excellent for use with a cheap lav mic where you would normally use a wireless setup. We use these mics that cost the equivalent of about $10 PRO SIGNAL|MP33751|MICROPHONE, LAVALIER BLACK | CPC (http://cpc.farnell.com/pro-signal/mp33751/microphone-lavalier-black/dp/MP33751) You cannot monitor but they are awfully cheap & pretty foolproof compared to other digital recorders. It means that you can afford to mic up anyone & everyone without having to keep swapping over wireless gear.

would it be like a shotgun at close range without an external microphone?)

I got good results placing the zoom h1 on an altar to pick up the priests voice and it's excellent in combination with a lavalier. I also use the zoom h1 on a dslr but planning on buying another type for this purpose, the zoom h1 microphones are directional and less suited to capture ambient sound.
The included mini tripod is crap, mine broke very quickly.

Thanks Nigel & Noa for the input. Considering it is less than a hundred now, it will be a good investment.